Londonstani

Londonstani Gautam Malkani''s electrifying debut reveals a Britain that has never before been explored in the novel: a country of young Asians and white boys (desis and goras) trying to work out a place for themselves in the shadow of the divergent cultures of their parents generation.Set close to the Heathrow feed roads of Hounslow Malkani shows us the lives of a gang of four young men: Hardjit the ring leader a Sikh violent determined his caste stay pure; Ravi determinedly tactless a sheep following the herd; Amit whose brother Arun is struggling to win the approval of his mother for the Hindu girl he has chosen to marry; and Jas who tells us of his journey with these three desperate to win their approval desperate too for Samira a Muslim girl which in this story can only have bad consequences. Together they cruise the streets in Amit''s enhanced Beemer making a little money changing the electronic fingerprints on stolen mobile phones a scam that leads them into more dangerous waters.Funny crude disturbing written in the vibrant language of its protagonists a mix of slang Bollywood texting Hindu and bastardised gangsta rap Londonstani is about many things: tribalism aggressive masculinity integration cross-cultural chirpsing techniques the urban scene seeping into the mainstream bling bling economics ''complicated family-related shit''. It is one of the most surprising British novels of recent years.